Catalans away form not a concern for Steve McNamara

Drew Darbyshire

Catalans coach Steve McNamara’s insists his side’s away form this season is not a worry after they were pumped 50-14 at St Helens.

The Dragons have won just two games away from home in 2019, with their victories coming against Hull Kingston Rovers and London Broncos.

Catalans have lost away at St Helens, Wigan Warriors, Wakefield Trinity and Castleford Tigers so far this term.

Speaking after their 50-14 thrashing at Saints, McNamara explained: “We want to win games whether they are at home or away.

“We can play away and win games, there is no mistake about that but today wasn’t one of those days. Saints were very good with the personnel they had out there and their fresh bodies had too much energy for us.

“I think there were a number of reasons why we lost. I thought we looked ready to play and I thought we were reasonably in control at the start of the game.

“We got off to a good start, but the injuries to David Mead and Kenny Edwards disrupted us and it cost us two interchanges.

“We have had some reasonable success against Saints this year and last year but today we just offered too much space to them. The quality players that they have and the speed they have got was just too much for us.”

The Dragons are staying over in England this week ahead of their Super League match against Hull FC at the KCOM Stadium on Friday night.

McNamara thinks staying close together could be a blessing for his outfit.

He added: “We are staying over this week as it’s a short turnaround again on the back of Easter.

“It was in the plans all along to stay over, regardless of the result against Saints, so I think it does help us.

“We will be together in the team hotel and we will have everything in place in terms of nutrition and recovery.

“It has been a tough day for us and we are not happy about it but we need to assess that quickly and move on to Hull.”

Kenny Edwards will not be able to face Hull due to the concussion protocol, while David Mead (neck) and Jason Baitieri (hamstring) will be assessed further in the coming days.